RELATED Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act, as amended REFERENCES: (Title XXVI of Public Law (P.L.) 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended).

BACKGROUND: States, Territories, and Indian Tribes/Tribal organizations that wish to administer a Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) must submit an application for funds each year. Section 2605(c)(3) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended, provides that not later than April 1 of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall make available a model LIHEAP plan which may be used, at the option of each grantee, to prepare the application required under Sections 2605(a)(1) and (c)(1).

PURPOSE: To provide LIHEAP grantees with a copy of the Model Plan format and to remind States, Tribes, and Territories that all applications are due September 1.

CONTENT: Attached for your use is the Model Plan format for use by States, Territories, and Indian Tribes/ Tribal organizations in developing your Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 plans. You are not required to use the Model Plan format. You may submit your application in any format you wish, as long as it includes all of the information required under the statute and implementing regulations.

For those grantees that choose not to use the Model Plan, we have included a list of reminders that may be helpful in submitting a complete application.

Deadlines:

We wish to remind grantees that they must submit an application each fiscal year in order to receive LIHEAP funds. Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations must, as always has been the case, submit their applications by September 1, unless the State(s) in which the Tribe or organization is located agrees to a later submission date. A Final Rule published on October 15, 1999 in the Federal Register (64 FR 55843) states in Section 96.10(c)(2) that applications from States and Territories must also be submitted by September 1 unless the Department agrees to a later date.

The final rule also established a due date for the submission of all information required to complete the LIHEAP application by Tribes, States and Territories as December 15 of the fiscal year for which funds are being requested, unless the State(s) in which a Tribe is located (in the case of Tribal grantees) or the Department (in the case of States and Territories) agrees to a later date.

Detailed and Abbreviated Plans:

In FY 1998, we adopted an application process under which a detailed application is due from each grantee every three years. In the alternate years, an abbreviated application may be submitted, consisting of: (1) the statutorily required assurances signed by the Governor/Chief Executive Officer or his/her designee; (2) a description of any changes from the last detailed application; and (3) a report on applicant and recipient households for the previous year. In addition, (4) an opportunity for public participation must be offered. (5) States must also hold a public hearing. (6) The Carryover and Reallotment Report for the previous fiscal year must have been submitted. The Carryover and Reallotment Report is due August 1. Also, (7) the appropriate certifications must be submitted. Lastly, (8) the LIHEAP Household Report must be submitted with the application as described below.

Attached to this information memorandum are both a "Detailed Model Plan" and an "Abbreviated Model Plan". The Detailed Model Plan is essentially the same as the Model Plan that we have used for many years. The Abbreviated Model Plan is for the optional use of grantees that are not scheduled to file a detailed application for FY 2011. Each grantee must submit either a Detailed Plan or an Abbreviated Model Plan each fiscal year.

Grantees must submit a "detailed application" every three years, or sooner, if they are making major changes to their LIHEAP programs. Since most grantees do not substantially change their programs in a typical two to three-year period, this frequency will assure that we have a full description of basic plan elements. As part of the detailed application, a full description of how grantees will carry out all of the assurances specified in the statute and the other program- specific information required in Section 2605(c) of the statute must be submitted. Grantees that are making more than two substantive changes should complete the detailed application.

Some current grantees must submit detailed applications for FY 2011 while the remaining portion of grantees will have the option of filing an abbreviated application for FY 2011. Grantees that submit an abbreviated application for FY 2011 will be required to submit a detailed application for FY 2012 or FY 2013. Attached is a schedule specifying which state grantees are required to file detailed applications in FY 2011 and FY 2012 (See Attachment 2).

Generally, Tribes and Tribal organizations must file a detailed application in the same year as the States in which they are located. In some cases, Tribes and States are not on the same three- year cycle if a Tribe applied with a Detailed Plan during a year in which the State submitted an Abbreviated Plan.

Assurances:

The assurances printed at the beginning of the Model Plan are from the current LIHEAP statute. Grantees who choose not to use the Model Plan still may wish to use these pages. Please be sure that (1) the Governor or Tribal Chairperson signs the assurances or (2) has specifically delegated authority to sign the LIHEAP assurances to the person who signs the assurances. If a grantee has a new Governor or Tribal Chairperson, a new delegation letter is required.

In applying for LIHEAP funds for FY 2011, please remember that the statute requires States and Territories receiving more than $200,000 to describe in their plans how they will carry out assurance 15 (Section 2605(b)(15) of the LIHEAP statute).

In addition, please note assurance 16, which sets a 5 percent limit on the amount of LIHEAP funds that can be used for certain activities designed to reduce the need for home energy and, thereby, the need for energy assistance.

Leveraging Activities:

We wish to remind you that the Model Plan includes a place to report leveraging activities to take place during the Federal fiscal year that will be coordinated with LIHEAP. You should include the information in your plan that will be necessary for activities to count for leveraging funds awarded the next year. Grantees should also amend their current year's plan to include any activities that are added during the year but were not previously included in the plan (e.g. cooling component). Under the Final Rule on implementing the leveraging program that was issued on May 1, 1995 (60 FR 21322), additional information must be included in the plan for those leveraging activities claimed under criterion 96.87(d)(2)(iii), that is, those resources that are appropriated or mandated by the State for distribution under the plan, and are coordinated/ integrated with the grantees' LIHEAP program, but are not a part of LIHEAP.

The plan must describe not only the resources/ benefits to be counted under criterion 96.87(d)(2) (iii), but the plan must also identify and describe their sources and the way in which they are integrated/coordinated with the grantees' LIHEAP program. See especially the middle column of page 21339 of the May 1, 1995 Federal Register (60 FR 21339) for further discussion of these requirements: These documents can be found on the LIHEAP website under the "Guidance, Policies, and Procedures" section.

If your leveraging activities to be claimed under criterion 96.87(d)(2)(iii) were fully described in your most recent Detailed Plan, you do not need to describe them again in an Abbreviated Plan unless they have changed. If any of the required information on the resources/benefits has changed, please be sure to submit new descriptions with your Abbreviated Plan.

Household Report:

The statute requires that complete LIHEAP applications MUST include the LIHEAP Household Report for the previous year on households applying for and assisted by LIHEAP before grant awards are made.

The LIHEAP statute requires the Secretary to collect data on the number and income levels of households assisted and the following additional household data:

• number of assisted households with at least one young child and

• number and income levels of households applying for LIHEAP assistance and

• the number of assisted households with at least one or more individuals who are 60 years or older or disabled.

States, the District of Columbia, and Territories with regular allotments of $200,000 or more (i.e., Puerto Rico) will need to collect this data on their FY 2010 applicant and recipient households in order to submit the data as part of their FY 2011 grant applications. Tribal grantees and Territories with regular allotments of less than $200,000 are required to submit only information on the number of households served in each of its program components (i.e., heating, cooling, crisis, and weatherization). We will issue a separate Action Transmittal with forms and instructions for the Household Report.

Carryover and Reallotment Report:

The required report on the amount of funds each grantee will carry over from FY 2010 to FY 2011 — or will have available for reallotment — is due August 1. Prompt submission of this report allows grantees and HHS to identify potential under obligation of funds in time to make adjustments before the end of the fiscal year.

However, please remember that the statute provides that no grantee will receive its FY 2011 grant until it has submitted its Carryover and Reallotment Report for its FY 2010 funds. In some cases, we had to delay grant awards to grantees with otherwise complete applications because they had not submitted their Carryover and Reallotment Report.

Other Certifications:

Please remember that all States, whether or not they use the Model Plan and whether or not they file a detailed application, must file the Lobbying certification and, if applicable, Form LLL, which discloses lobbying payments. Tribes and Tribal organizations are not required to file the Lobbying certification. The Debarment and Suspension certification must be filed by all grantees, as must the Drug-free Workplace certification, unless a State has submitted a statewide assurance to the Department of Health and Human Services. Please note that the Drug- free Workplace and the Debarment and Suspension certifications do not require signatures. Submission of those forms with the application indicates agreement to adhere to the specified certifications.

Timely Application Submittal and Completion by Tribes, States and Territories:

Early receipt and processing of your application will facilitate your ability to meet the statutory requirement to obligate at least 90 percent of your funds in the fiscal year in which they are appropriated.

We wish to remind grantees which have specific opening dates established for their LIHEAP programs that they should allow four to six weeks for Division of Energy Assistance review of their applications and issuance of grant awards. A longer time may be required if we have to request additional information because an application is not complete.

The Cash Management Improvement Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-453, as amended by P.L. 102-589), is in effect. This statute, which covers States and Territories but not Tribes, imposes a requirement for timely transfers of funds between Federal agencies and States. The Department of the Treasury issued a Final Rule (57 FR 60676-606894, published December 21, 1992) implementing the statute, which affects the LIHEAP program. It is important that we receive your application several weeks before you intend to draw funds from the Payment Management System so that we may comply with the intent of this Act and its implementing regulations.

As noted above, all necessary information must be included in the application before it can be accepted as complete and we can issue a grant. When we have to ask for additional information, it means that you may not receive the grant award on the schedule you had planned. We have noticed that applications often fail to include the same kinds of additional information that we had to request the previous year in order to make the application complete. Accordingly, we suggest that you include in your detailed application answers to the questions or the information we requested in previous years.

Another reason the approval process often takes longer than necessary is the submission of delegations of the Governor's or Tribal Chairperson's authority that do not specify authority to sign the LIHEAP assurances.

LIHEAP regulations at 45 CFR 96.10(b) require that the 16 assurances (15 for Tribes and some Territories) in the LIHEAP statute must be signed by the grantee's Chief Executive Officer or "by an individual authorized to make such certifications on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer." A delegation of authority to administer the LIHEAP program, or one that delegates authority to sign assurances but does not specify the LIHEAP program is not sufficient.